Forty paintings by Glen Scouller will be exhibited in Contrasts...from Colonsay to Colonzelle at Open Eye Gallery in Edinburgh. To include some pastel and line drawings, oil paintings (large and small) painted in France and Colonsay. 34 Abercromby Pl, Edinburgh EH3 6QE. Tel: 0131 557 1020. www.openeyegallery.co.uk
“The autumn and winter seasons are my favourite times for painting in France,” SAYS Glen Scouller from East Ayrshire. “It’s quieter then, with less tourists in the hilltop and coastal villages plus the landscape takes on a more skeletal appearance with many of the trees and vines stripped of their leaves, making a more stark appearance against the dry Provençal soil.
“For the past two years I have painted in the Drôme department of France mainly in and around the small village of Chamaret. In the autumn here the colours and light change from their summer intensity to softer hues. The skies are a paler blue, the trees are turning from green to gold and the air is filled with the aroma of garden bonfires, the main ingredient being the heady mix of dried herbs and plants.....truly intoxicating.
“After this year’s French trip I went straight to the island of Colonsay, this was my first trip to the island and it couldn’t have been a greater contrast with the south of France. In Colonsay the sky appears bigger with the Atlantic breeze making the cloud formations race across the landscape at a rate of knots. This I found both challenging and engaging. One minute the sea and land would be lit by a burst of sunlight, a short time later it would be hit by a sudden icy shower .....this is the kind of challenge that someone like myself, who paints en plein air, enjoys painting in the Western Isles of Scotland. My only previous experience of Colonsay were the landscapes of my tutor at GSA, the late John Cunningham whose paintings of the raised beaches I had always admired for their immediacy and freshness. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a lot more to the island than just it's dramatic coastline which Cunningham found so engaging. I was fortunate to stay in a cottage next to a beautiful wood where plants and trees thrive in the warmth of the Gulf Stream and are to be found nowhere else in mainland Scotland. These included exotic palms and other plant specimens plus the island is also a destination for numerous migratory birds which in turn makes it popular with the binocular brigade of twitchers. I feel I haven't started to scratch the surface of possibilities on Colonsay and look forward to returning next spring to different painting challenges and a whole set of new seasonal contrasts.”
Autumn Sun, Chantemerle-les-Grignan
Oil on canvas, 28 x 36 inches
www.glenscouller.co.uk
